yesterday. get this book, read it, learn it. you want to learn the other things we talked about, find this at glennbeck.com, foxnews.com. in an hour, we have a live event. see you there online. see you there online. good night. captioned by closed captioning services, inc >> bret: the weather cools and the political races heat up. we look at three contests from coast to coast. terrorists plot major strikes. we will tell you where and what the u.s. is doing about it. democrats decide not to vote on tax cuts before the election. the house minority leader says he knows why. live from the studio in washington, this is "special report." i'm bret baier. we start off tonight in america's news headquarters just 34 days ahead of the november mid-terms that could shift the balance of power. we begin at the fox big board again tonight. we are following a number of races, first in the senate. we begin in california. where the candidates there in california are first, one, the senate races we are watching. the three-term senator

barbara boxer facing her stiffest challenge ever. from republican carly fiorina. now the real clear politics average of this race has boxer leading by six points. as we head back to the state statistics for california, here in california, the state statistics have that the unemployment rate -- of course, it's a little sticky. the unemployment rate stands at 12.3% above the national average of 9.6%. in 2008, the golden state went to barack obama 61-37%. now chief political correspondent carl cameron is in pasadena tonight with a story about two women far apart in more than just politics. >> reporter: rallying tea partiers in irvine and across california, republican u.s. senate candidate carly fiorina, former ceo of hewlett-packard blasts democratic incumbent barbara boxer for three senate terms of big government liberalism. this is a senator who loves government spending.

and higher taxes. i have mean that is just her record in brief. >> boxer who spent ten years in the house before 18 in the senate is seldom seen on the california campaign trail, because she's legislating in washington. from whence she fired back. >> the people are going to judge would they rather have me there, who worked all these years to make their lives better, fighting for jobs, or my opponent who when she had a chance laid off 30,000 workers and shipped their jobs to china and india? >> reporter: fiorina was one of the nation's first female ceos in major corporation and made tough and controversial decisions. boxer launched the first attack ad and made it about the business record, too. >> while californians lost their jobs, fiorina tripled her salary, bought a million dollar yacht and five corporate jets. >> reporter: initially slow to respond, fiorina made her first ad a counter attack using boxer's own word. >> do me a favor. could you say "senator" instead of "ma'am"? it's just a thing. it worked so hard to get that title.

i'd appreciate it. yes, thank you. >> 28 years in washington and barbara boxer works hard for a title? >> reporter: outside interest begun weighing in against boxer, too. the chamber of commerce. >> 28 years voting to add trillions to on the national debt. piling up record deficits, raising our taxes. >> reporter: the "l.a. times" refused to endorse boxer in the primary. this week "san francisco chronicle" slammed the door on its support. >> been completely ineffective for people of california, that's why her hometown paper refused to endorse her. >> reporter: they are polar opposites on issues and traded feisty in radio address today. more than 40% of ballots in california will be cast by mail. early voting starts on monday. bret? >> bret: carl cameron live tonight in pasadena. carl, thank you. now watching the governor's races across the country and we'll stay out here in california. that's where we find the republican hopeful is ebay

billionaire meg whitman, democrat jerry brown, a man who has held the governor's job along with many others is seeking a return engagement. the real clear politics average of polls out there has this one a toss-up with brown holding a two-point lead. 46-44%. correspondent anita vogel is actually in sacramento where one of these two candidates will eventually live. >> you know, i come home at night, i don't try to close down the bars in sacramento like i used to do when i was governor of california. >> reporter: raw and off the cuff, not outside the norm for california attorney general jerry brown to show himself as wiser now as when he was governor more than 30 years ago. brown made the pledge last night facing off against his republican rival. former ebay ceo meg whitman for the first time in the race for california's top job. with most of the evening focussed on more serious

issues. >> putting jerry brown in charge of negotiating with the labor unions around pensions, around how many people we have in this state government is like putting count dracula in charge of the blood bank. >> reporter: whitman repeatedly reminded voters that much of brown's support comes from labor unions, which have spent millions airing attack ads against her. >> for 28 years, she didn't bother to vote. no government experience at all. >> brown in turn painted whitman as a billionaire ceo. whose proposed tax cuts including repealing the capital gains tax would only benefit the wealthy. >> my values are different in some important respects. i would not give millionaires and billionaires a big $5 billion tax break. >> reporter: whitman spent a record-setting $119 million of her own money on the campaign so far. but still the two candidates are locked in a dead heat. >> the fact is when you buy 100,000 commercials more than

anyone ever, ever, running for president or running for governor in any state, this is the absolute massive saturation. and to be even with that as i now start my campaign in earnest, it's amazing. it's almost miraculous. >> one of the good things about having invested a lot of my own resources in this campaign is i'm independent. i will go to sacramento and will not owe anyone anything. >> reporter: with california's unemployment rate nearing 12.5%, voters here are concerned about jobs. jerry brown is promising to deliver 500,000 new jobs. meg whitman 2 million. political experts say both of these plans are more of a hope than guarantee of economic recovery. bret? >> bret: anita vogel live in sacramento tonight. thank you. now we move across the councilmember. senate races we're watching. down to florida. that senate race where g.o.p. candidate former state house speaker marco rubio, democratic congressman kendrick meek, but there is a third candidate in the race. the current real clear

politics average, the current governor charlie crist elected as a republican, running as an independent. real clear has this one in rubio's favor with a lead of about 10.5 points. as you can see over crist and around 17 over meek. now, florida has an 11.4% unemployment rate. that is above the national average. it went to barack obama two years ago, as you see here 51-48%. tonight, correspondent phil keating is down here in miami. he is reporting live wh more on this contest. good evening, phil. >> reporter: good evening, bret. riding a fresh five-point uptick in the polls, democratic congressman kendrick meek unveiling a novel and creative political ad today. also revealing his new strategy in the waning weeks in the tightening race for florida senate seat. up until now, meek's political ads which aired across florida tv statewide have really basically highlighted his own political positions. he is pro-choice.

against offshore drilling, against privatizing social security. but his latest spot is a polished direct assault on former republican now independent governor charlie crist. it's all charlie crist in his own words. >> i'm as conservative as you can get. bush republican. i was impressed with palin being picked. i watched her speech today. i was very impressed. >> reporter: the quotes span from his 2006 gubernatorial campaign and victory speech to an interview 13 days ago. the editorial board of the miami herald where crist says, it's in thethia, "i'm a pro-g pro-gun." it shows that marco rubio is holding strong with a 40-point lead and crist dropping five points to 28% and meek rising five points to 23%. 9% remain undecided.

meek told us today the key for him is convincing florida democrats in the remaining 34 days to believe that the meek campaign can win and can beat marco rubio. but that's been a challenge all summer for meek, as crist a moderate has been able to pull democratic donors and their funding and this past weekend he won an endorsement from former democratic congressman robert wexler. >> we can pass charlie crist and then we'll move on to marco rubio. both are cut out of the same cloth. both are together on 96% of the issues. i'm running against two republican candidates. even though charlie crist says he is an independent. he's willing to say and do anything to get elected. >> reporter: couple of big guns coming down over the next two days. tomorrow, former vice president al gore shows up to campaign for meek. on friday, mitt romney likely republican presidential candidate, will stump for marco rubio. bret? >> bret: phil keating in a dark and rainy miami.

phil, thank you very much. now taking a look at the u.s. house races we're watching. we will stay down in florida. there is another race down there that is getting very nasty. it's right here in the 18th congressional district. there you see the incumbent democratic congressman alan grayson, running an add against republican opponent daniel webster, linking webster's religious beliefs to those of the taliban. >> he wants to force raped women to bear the child. >> submit to me. >> taliban webster, hands off our bodies and our laws. >> bret: well, that ad was released on final day of a sunshine state poll. that poll was taken saturday through monday. it has webster leading by seven points over grayson. as you see here, 43-36%. webster says he has taken in about $70,000 in donations since that ad came out. so we'll be using the big fox board throughout the next 34 days. that brings us, however, to

our featured text to vote poll tonight. the question tonight for you: what is your opinion of negative campaign ads? you can text your answer to 36288. type sr1 for fair game. sr2 for dirty politics. we'll bring you the results at the end of the program. still ahead, breaking up, a new terror plot. we will tell you who was being targeted. ♪

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>> reporter: mumbai, india, 2008, hotels, train station, hit with commando style attacks by militants leaving 166 dead. fox news confirm u.s. authorities thwarted a similar style planned by al-qaeda, targeting sites in the u.k., france, germany and possibly denmark, frequented by foreigners including americans. >> so whatever maximizes instability and instills the greatest fear in the greatest number of people. >> the recent wave of drone attacks unleashed on the terror-rich border with afghanistan is said to be an attempt by the u.s. to disrupt the plot. president obama is reported to have been monitoring the situation and america is on top of it, according to the secretary of homeland security. >> we know al-qaeda and al-qaeda type affiliates are out there and they are determined. they are determined to attack target in the west, be they call it hard or soft targets. >> defensible figure in the plot is a german of afghan

descent who worshipped in the same mosque in hamburg as other 9/11 plotters. he was picked up by july by americans in afghanistan after training with al-qaeda. sources in germany tell fox news his stories were vague and motive unclear. but with an al-qaeda senior operative, kashmiri, said to be moving in more terror suspects toward europe, the u.s. apparently thought it best to move early. >> what we have been told is that the attack was not in the execution phase. it was in the planning phase. >> reporter: authorities say this was not a response to a particular plot but others in u.k. and germany say they are aware and ready. there have also been reports that u.s. officials have been looking at any possible risk to america itself as a result of the plot. for his part, late today, new york city police commissioner ray kelly said there is no specific threat against new york, but they're prepared. bret?

>> bret: greg palkot, thank you. back at home, the man accused of a horrific terror attack against an american target 12 years ago is finally going to trial in civilian court. senior correspondent eric shawn lays out the case. >> reporter: galani is an accused al-qaeda terrorist, charged with participating in the bombings of two u.s. embassies in africa in 1998. attacks that killed 224 people, including 12 americans. in court he seemed relaxed and smiled on the first day of jury selection. as the first gitmo detainee to be tried in a u.s. civilian court. the case is supposed to test the obama policy of transferring some detainees from military tribunals. his lawyers say while in custody he was under torture. >> you would think there would be complicity of more

than his statement. >> reporter: they tried to accuse mastermind khalid sheikh mohammed here. they do not seem as on gaard with golani. >> any time there is a trial of this nature, it does cause anxiety and concern in the community. we're the only neighborhood attack twice by terrorists. >> reporter: in 2001, four other embassy bombing suspects who were not at gitmo were convicted here and are now serving live. 174 detainees remain at gitmo and the administration has not said where they plan to try khalid sheikh mohammed. in new york, i'm eric shawn, fox news. >> bret: up later, u.s. goes after iran again, but this time it isn't over the nuclear issue. the white house decides what to do about extending or not extending the bush tax cuts. congress does as well. back in a minute. [ male announcer ] even before science was science,

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>> bret: we are anticipating action in the senate to keep a bill running through the summer. it would continue resolution at the current spending levels. if it does not pass before the new fiscal year friday the government would technically run out of money. we now know what congress plans to do about extending bush era tax cuts before the election. nothing. democrats in charge of the house today followed the lead of the senate counterparts in deciding that no news was good news. chief washington correspondent jim angle reports a lot of other democrats don't share that sentiment. >> some democrats were so uneasy about leaving town without vote on extending bush tax cuts, 39 of them

voted against adjourning and it barely passed on vote of 210-209. democrats blame the failure to vote on tax cuts on republican opposition. >> the republicans made it clear they were not going to vote for a tax cut unless it included the tax cut for income for mostly very wealthy families. >> reporter: house republican leader john boehner said democratic leaders threw in the towel on a tax cut vote because they know they can't win. >> the reason they're not bringing this up for a vote, is because we have the votes in the house and senate to extend all the current tax breaks. >> reporter: speaker nancy pelosi is facing a revolt among democratic lawmakers. a few days ago 31 wrote a letter insisting all the tax cuts be extent and now 47 democrats have written another letter urging her to look at the capital gains and dividends, tax on business. >> some people lose sight of business, we have to make business work for benefit of

america. >> reporter: and some argue it would hurt the sacrosanct of all constituents, the elderly. >> if you raise dividend rate it will hurt them a way they can't afford. >> reporter: ben nelson of nebraska renewed his call to extend all the bush tax cuts. >> the possibility of tax increases is just one more reason that companies at home and across our country are holding on to cash. and are hesitant to invest in new equipment, new production and new employees. >> so the issue will now be postponed and left to a lame duck congress after the elections. >> i hope that we can truly have a lame duck, that it doesn't become a dead duck, or a daffy duck. >> reporter: nelson also has written a letter urging the president to convene tax cut senate. [ inaudible ] a deal on tax cut seem as remote as mideast peace.

>> bret: if it quacks like a duck. thank you. president obama's mission to value advantage the majority in congress can took him to heartland where he got up close and personal with the skepticism democrats are up against. white house correspondent wendell goler shows us. >> reporter: des moines, iowa, president obama struggled to convince a small businessman, his anti-business rap is a bad one. >> as the government gets more and more involved in business and gets more involved in taxes, pay for a lot of programs. what you find is you are strangling the job creation vehicles. >> your taxes haven't gone up in this administration. your taxes have gone down in this administration. >> the backyard discussion with voters was his second in as many days and it also brought him face to face with his fears of a small voter turnout among young people this fall. >> they are losing their hope. which was a message that you inspired them with. >> the night before at the university of wisconsin, mr. obama warned his largest

crowd since the inauguration not to sit out the mid-terms. >> we need you to commit to vote. we need you to pledge to vote. we need you to knock on doors. >> reporter: as must have as he needs to reignite enthusiasm among young people to keep democrats from losing the house and senate this fall, mr. obama needs to rebuild democratic support in the suburbs and those are the voters his backyard meetings are aimed at. he has held half a dozen events since august and raw partisan enthusiasm is not on the menu. there are two big reasons for suburban focus, according to hofstra university levy. >> more than half the people in the country live in the suburbs. second of all, it's the place where more moderate and independent voters tend to live than anywhere else. >> reporter: the virginia suburbs made mr. obama the first democratic president to win the state in 44 years, but chose a republican governor in 2009. likewise, suburbs of denver and las vegas turned colorado and nevada from red to blue two years ago may be trending

back. but after a year of intensely partisan bickering between democrats and republicans, perhaps two dozen of the most competitive congressional races levy says will put a premium on moderation. >> we will see the candid can dates that ran to the right -- candidates that ran to the right in primaries, all trying to run to the middle to get to suburban voters. >> reporter: if conventionm wisdom that politics is getting more partisan but the fact that the country is getting more suburban. if suburban voters are better educate and more moderate, maybe a chance politics will follow suit. >> bret: wendell goler live on the north lawn. thank you. stocks were down today. the dow lost a little less than 23. the s&p 500 dropped three points. nasdaq also gave back three. the former head of the nation's fastest growing labor union says he is not the subject of a federal investigation. andy stern resigned as president of the seiu in april and serves on the president's federal deficit

commission. he issued the denial outside a meeting of that panel today. >> named sources who are former union leaders removed from office for corruption. who have been found gasoline of jury diverting money, fined a million dollars, this is tabloid journallism. >> bret: don't forget the text to vote poll. the question: what is your opinion of negative campaign ads? text your answer to 36288. sr1 for fair game. sr2 for dirty politics. we'll have the results later. the grapevine is up next.

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and with this valuable information in your hand, talk to your doctor. call 1-877-580-afib today. >> bret: now some fresh pickings from the political grapevine. if you have serious doubts about the news media, you have plenty of company. a new poll finds a record high level of distrust. gallop says 57% of participants do not trust the media to accurately and fairly report the news. the percentage has been steadily climbing since the mid-1990s, when distrust hung at 45%. 48% of those polled say the media slants too liberal. while only 15% find it too conservative. 33% believe it's just about right. on september 10, anti-war protester cindy sheehan spoke

to a crowd in manhattan about the september 11 attacks. >> i am a 9/11 truther. [ inaudible ] >> bret: sheehan claimed that president obama is doing everything he can to, "protect the criminals of the bush regime." and finally the "associated press" is chastising house speaker nancy pelosi for not living up to a promise she made four years ago. under the headline "promises, promises," pelosi ethics pledge falters," a.p. quotes pelosi as pledging she would lead the most honest, most open, most ethical congress in history. amist a host of shortcomings they cite trial for two prominent democrats, charles rangel and maxine waters.

majority wrist -- majority whip clyburn has golf tournament and others awarded congressional black caucus scholarships to relatives. the u.s. hit iran with another set of economic sanctions. but these are not over the nuclear program. national correspondent steve centanni fills in the blanks from the pentagon. >> reporter: two top candidate members, secretary of state hillary clinton and treasury secretary tim geithner appear together at the state department to announce new sanctions against individuals in iran for human rights violations. including the head of the revolutionary guard and other cabinet ministers. the u.s. action stems from a police crackdown following the iranian election in june of last year. hundreds of protesters alleging massive election fraud were arrested and at least 30 were killed. since then, secretary clinton notes a steady deterioration of human rights in iran. >> these officials watch, or

under their command, the iranian citizens have been arbitrarily arrested, beaten, tortured, raped, blackmailed and killed. yet, the iranian government has ignored repeated calls from the international community to end these abuses. >> clinton who called on iran to release all political prisoners said these are the first sanctions placed on iran for human rights violation. the new sanctions target individuals, restricting travel and freezing assets they have in the u.s. though none of them has substantial savings or investments here. we found when we single out individuals, and expose their conduct, banks, businesses, and governments around the world respond by cutting off their economic and financial dealings with these individuals, these institutions, these businesses. >> reporter: there was this from one of capitol hill's foreign policy hawks. >> we will prevent iran from

acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. period. by peaceful means if we possibly can, but with military force if we absolutely must. >> reporter: lieberman appears to be turning up the heat by placing a renewed emphasis on the possibility of military action to deal with iran's nuclear ambitions. at the pentagon, steve centanni, fox news. >> bret: five weeks to go until the election. we get analysis of some of the big races and the big picture when the fox all-stars join me after the break. [ male announcer ] millions of men 45 and older

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putting jerry brown in charge of negotiating with the labor unions around pensions, around how many people we have in the state government is like putting count dracula in charge of the blood bank. >> the fact is when you buy 100,000 commercials more than anyone ever, ever, running for president, running for governor, in any state, this

is the absolute massive saturation. to be even with that, as i now start my campaign in earnest it's amazing. it's almost miraculous. >> bret: jerry brown and meg whitman battling out in the the governor's race in california. development today in that race, in that meg whitman came out and answered a charge about hiring an illegal alien to work for her. she was on neil cavuto's show today. here is how she answered it. >> we used an employment agency to find nicky, she filled out a 1099, showed a california driver's license. everything was in order. we specified with the employment agent we wanted to make sure we had someone who was here legally to work in the united states. and no one was more surprised when she came to me in june of 2009 and admitted that she was here illegally. and had forged the documents. it's clearly politically motivated. we had a great debate last night. i think i did very, very well. oh surprise, this morning

gloria alred pops up with a political stunt. >> bret: there was a news conference today regarding that issue. quickly, the poll for that race, the real clear politic average has it very tight there. jerry brown with just a two-point lead. that's where we start with the panel tonight. bring in the panel. stephen hayes, senior writer for "weekly standard." henderson from the washington post. syndicated columnist, charles krauthammer. start with the governor's race in california. steve? >> i thought meg whitman answered the charges pretty decisively and offered to put it back, in fact i think the campaign put out the documents so they have the copy of the 1099. gloria allred didn't introduce much. she had promises and said she could produce evidence and never did it. nicky diaz, the poor woman in question who was here illegally left the press conference for a little while because she was uncomfortable and came back and broke down crying, but didn't seem like she was on the same pages

gloria allred. we will find out in the coming days when we see the document or paperwork but it smells like a political stunt. >> it's hard to see how this shakes things up. close race, two point on dividing these folks. you look at the press conference and you wonder why the woman was crying. it looked theatrical and staged. i think the democrats are obviously worried about this state. blue state. obviously schwarzenegger is the governor now. but i mean this is something they want to win. the white house looks at this race and thinks about 2012 and all the congressional redistricting that is going on. so i mean this is something they want to pick up certainly. >> bret: charles? >> it tells you that the desperate democrats really are going to throw the kitchen sink here. which is going to mean a lot of really personal attacks. they don't have a lot of stuff to run on in terms of ideology, execution, competence or effectiveness or anything else. "new york times" had a front page story today on the surprisingly strong republican nominee to be

governor of new york paladino which attacks some of his associates, including his driver. it's one thing if you want to attack the candidate. now they're digging into the driver who was going to be the guy who does his laundry? it looks as if there will be a really, really dirty season coming up. >> bret: another race out there in california. the senate race. debate out there this afternoon. between carly fiorina and incumbent barbara boxer. there you see the real clear politics average, with boxer holding a lead. take a listen to the back and forth. >> the people are going to judge would they rather have me there who worked all these years to make their lives better, fighting for jobs or my opponent when she had the chance laid off 30,000 workers and shipped their jobs to china and india? >> this is a senator who loves government spending. and higher taxes. that's just her record in brief. >> she has been completely ineffective for the people of

california. that's why her own hometown pape "the san francisco chronicle" refused to endorse her. >> bret: neil, what do you think of that race? >> this is a surprise to see this race so tight, so much so that they will roll out michelle obama to fundraise for barbara boxer. you think about clinton in a year it's full of personal attack and seeming to shape up to be the year of strong female candidates. i think california is certainly an example of that. >> bret: steve? >> it's sort of a proxy of this national debate we've been having. on one hand, you had voters for 20 months showing their anger toward wall street, toward big business. but you have seen over the course of the 20 months of the obama administration a shift and a pronounced shift where the voters are now focussing their anger on washington. so barbara boxer is making the argument that carly fiorina is this big wall street type ceo, tycoon that doesn't care about the little people. carly fiorina is saying about barbara boxer, she is

washington. she is the face of washington. the one place where i think barbara boxer has a slight advantage is that president obama remains popular in california. it's going to be hard to see how voters want to throw out somebody supporting his agenda. >> bret: turn now across the country to florida, the senate race down there. a three-way race. the latest real clear politics average of polls has that with marco rubio a pretty sizable lead in the average there. you see 11 points over charlie crist. a former republican. now independent. and kendrick meek. charles, about this race? >> well, i think we're now in the early elimination round. which is who is going to endbe up as essentially the liberal, the democratic challenger against rubio who now is really way ahead. what is interesting is how the normally nominated meek who is a democrat, member of congress, he is not that known outside of south of florida is rising. the split between -- crist

had a 15-point spread between him and meek a week or two ago. now a trunk, it's a five-point spread. which means that before crist had the idea if he becomes the one who is the challenger, he is the quasi liberal, he's moved heavily left in this, in the early days here. he could end up as the one that democrats abandon. and he's their nominee. however, the party, florida, has now put out as we showed earlier on the show an extremely strong ad against crist where he says how much of a republican he is, pro-life, pro-drilling, pro-everything. guns, that is sacred in the republican world. and it calls him essentially a hypocrite. it looks as if the regular democrats will go with meek not crist. >> bret: he is getting a bit

arlen specter in florida. >> he is. but i think when the white house looks at this race and democrats look at this race, they don't necessarily think meek can win. what they think is that meek energizes the base, energizes black voters who make up 15% of the population there. so ultimately those folks will go to the polls, vote for meek and also vote for alex sink. that will be a pick-up. the governor's candidate. so that will be a real pick-up for democrats for 2012. >> bret: they worry about florida in 2012. log on to the home page on foxnews.com/specialreport and get ready for tonight's online show at 7:00 eastern. speaking of time, clock is ticking for congress to keep the congress from running out of money. that's next in the panel.

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we may not agree on much, but i think with rare

exception, all 100 senators want to get out of here and get back to their states. there has been no decision made on what if any amendments there will be on the c.r.. >> one thing we can clearly say about our friends on the other side of the aisle, they have a unified desire to leave town. that is the reason that we will be heading out of town to make our cases to the american people this november. >> bret: the senate is still in session. can you see the light there above the capitol? they're still over there. they're working on the continuing resolution. the c.r. this essentially keeps the government funded. and there is some debate whether it should include additional spending over the next couple of months. it will only go to first week in december. this is the back and forth. apparently they are just going to vote on it. get it moving and get out of town. we're back with the panel. charles, what about this? >> i know the republicans had one of the clean -- wanted a clean resolution. ie, you extend what you have now and you don't add anything.

the one add-on i this is going to happen the surprise office. surprise, it's -- is the post office. surprise it's in the red, by a lot. not sure republicans want the election to happen with post off shut because republicans don't allow the c.r. to pass. that is really a strong issue that the republicans could employ. they can argue it isn't only that the democrats have governed ideologically left, in effectively, but economically. they have not passed a single appropriation. they will not. also on the tax issue, here they are after two years and they cannot tell you what your rates will be on january 1. that is incompetence apart from ideology and ineffectiveness. >> bret: there is not a budget and there are not appropriation bills passed and the tax cut issue is still looming. it's actually a tax increase at the end of the year.

>> you all of a sudden from the white house saw them prioritizing this the passage of this bill from the tax cuts. they said we can take care of that later, but they want to pass this. the president will meet with the top democrats tomorrow. it's a priority for them. they will be able to say they did something. >> keep the government running. on the budget situation, there is a senator, democratic senator, holding the homing the appointment of the budget director. that is jack lu, the nominated budget director for the obama administration. senator mary landrieu is holding it up. there is jack lu. here is what landrieu told politico -- i am going to keep this hold-on until we get movement. this is about the oil moratorium. it's not a great way but it's the only way i have to get their attention. lu can be appointed as a recess director, budget director. the president's policies now are doing much more harm than the b.p. oil spill itself to on the economy of the south

coast. it's just gotten to a point where the people in louisiana ask do they even understand what is going on down here? they have the entire offshore industry virtually shut down. this is remarkable for the democratic senator to hold up a democratic administration budget director. >> more remarkable are her words. that is a stunning indictment of the administration, saying that this -- their moratorium is doing more damage than the actual spill. she was saying it back then, but it's amazing to me how little attention this is getting beyond this show and inside washington baseball. it's really not getting the kind of attention, and if you talk to people in the gulf they will tell you what she is saying. this is a clearly a pitch to the home crowd back there. because they are saying the exact same thing. this has been devastating and it continues to be devastating. the question everyone is asking is what is the hold up. >> bret: quickly, democrats running in this coming election.

not on the budget or tax cut can issue. >> saying that the republicans would turn back the clock. we thought it would be healthcare. it's not. we thought it would be stimulus and rebound economy. it isn't. >> bret: last word. >> oil metorial, rahm emanuel said you never want to waste a crisis. this is an opportunity where the administration would placate the ecological left with a shutdown, explaining the b.p. spill. big mistake. >> bret: that is it for the panel. stay tuned for a league of its own. my nasal allergies are ruining our camping trip.

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>> thanks for the votes. we had more than 6,000 of them tonight. finally tonight, there's been a lot of talk about middle east peace talks. while there's a new development and a new player in the game. >> and the palestinian president abbas today as well, there's an arab league meeting next week, he's going to find out what the arab countries think he should do. >> the arab league. that the a tough league. some hard line members in that league. we'll check the arab league standings. saudi arabia is doing well. lebanon hoping for a wild card spot. jordan off to a slow start. for god's sakes, the mets are at the bottom of the arab league as well. that can't be! that's just embarrassing. the mets can't even do well in the arab league. those countries don't even play baseball. >> thanks for letting us into your home tonight. that's it for this "special report." fair, balanced and unafraid. "special report on-line" begins